Drapery suspension fixture



Jan 9, 1934@ c. w. KxRscH 1,942,712 I DRAPERY SUSPENSION FIXTURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 2., 1932 Patented Jan. 9, 1934 PATENT OFFICE j 1,942,712 DRAPERY 'SUSPENSION FIXTURE Charles W. Kirsch, Sturgis, Mich.;

Guy W.

Kirsch and John N. Kirsch, coexecutors of said Charles W. Kirsch, deceased, assignors to Kirsch Company, Sturgis, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application January 2, 1932. Serial No. 584,513

13 Claims. (c1. 15s- 20) This invention relates to improvements in curtain or drapery suspension equipment of the traverse or draw-cord type, and has for its object to provide a structure of this type which is pro-v vided with means permitting the insertion and removal of traverse slides from the end portions of the rod without requiring the extremities of the rod to be opened and the sheave or sheavecarriers for the draw-cords to be removed.

A suitable embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 isa perspective View of a cornice curtain pole equipped Witha traverse or draw-cord v curtain or drapery suspension xture constructed in accordance with the invention. v

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same through the supporting brackets thereof, showing the said fixture in rear elevation.

Fig. 3 is a plan section of the same on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Figs. 4 and 5 are perspective views of component elements of the curtain rod per se -constituting an extensible element of the cornice curtain pole.

Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are detail vertical sections on the lines 6 6, 7 7, and 8-8, respectively, of Fig. 2.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a clamp employed.

In the drapery hardware art, the corniced curtain pole as well as curtain poles of other types, are very popular. These poles are commonly made of wood and are equipped with metallic rods and traverse cord mechanism.

As my present invention is particularly adapted for curtain pole equipment, I have illustrated the same as applied to this type of structure or device without limitation thereto or use independently thereof.

In this art, it is the common commercial practice of dealers to purchase either the ordinary types of curtain poles or the cornice type, in long lengths from the manufacturers thereof, together with a number of, pairs of supporting brackets therefor. The usual initial length of a curtain pole is twelve feet.

In the resale of such poles, they are cut to 50 lengths in accordance with the widths of the window-casings to be equipped with the same and, as the windows vary greatly in Widths, it is obviously advantageous to the' dealer to be supplied with rod and draw-cord equipment for these different lengths of poles of a type and character which will minimize the labor of tting this equipment to the pole.

The practice heretofore has been also to supply the dealer with curtain rods of the same length as the poles, and for the dealer to cut the long rods to lengths equal to those of the lengths of poles cut from the initially long lengths of the latter, mount said rods upon the said shorter length poles and then equip said rods with the master-slides or carriers, the sheave carriers and intermediate traverse slides or carriers and other accessories to complete the structure to be mounted upon the window casing. To this end the dealer has been obliged to carry in stock a supply of the several respective last-mentioned devices appreciably in excess ofv his normal requirements and, in many instances, has found his supply of one or more of said items exhausted at the moment when the same was most needed, while he was oversupplied with otheritems.

A further disadvantage of the present and past practices as above described, resides in the fact that the employes of the dealer and frequently, the dealer also, are not expert` in the selection and assembly of all of the items requisite and necessary to provide the ultimate consumer with a complete and perfectly operating traverse cord equipment, whereas the manufacturer usually has in his employ persons competent to do this work and, by reason of doing this work for a large number of dealers, is enabled to do the same at far less cost and far more eiciently than the dealer can do it.

The main object of my present invention is, therefore, to provide a completely assembled rod and draw-cord equipment which may be sold to dealers and fitted to and mounted upon the curtain poles to meet requirements as to length and otherwise with Very little labor, at low cost and to greater advantage as to operating efliciency than has been afforded heretofore. y

Referring to the drawings, the cornice curtain pole 1 therein illustrated and which may be taken to be exemplary of all types of curtain poles, is provided with a longitudinal groove 2 in its 100 rear face for the reception of a metallic rod. The said pole 1 is suitably engaged with the supporting brackets 3 as by providing the latter, in the faces opposed to each other and to the ends of the pole l, with grooves 4 to receive the extreme 105 end portions of the said pole 1.

In accordance with the invention, I provide extensible curtain rods each composed of a middle male section 5 and two female sections 6 which telescopically receive the respective end portions of the said middle section 5. Each of the members 5 and 6 is of the conventional type which is C-shaped in cross-section to provide a continuous open slot in its rear wall, the latter comprising the a'nges which border the said slot.

The said flanges of the member 5 are provided midway between their ends with the recesses 7, and the inner end portions of the flanges of the opposed members 6 are cut away as at 8 to provide the slots thereof with flaring mouths at the said inner opposed ends of said members in the assembled structure.

The member 5 is provided with a perforation 9 in its front wall opposite the said recesses 7 and the members 6 are provided at points adjacent the outer ends of their front walls, with perforations 10, the several perforations affording passage for the shanks of fastening screws by means of which the assembled rod is secured to the pole l within the groove 2 with the front walls of the sections 5 and 6 opposed to the bottom wall of the said groove 2.

The sections 5 and 6 intert so snugly as to be retained by friction in any relative positions to which they are adjusted without, however, rendering such adjustment difficult of accomplishment by hand.

The flared ends of the longitudinal slots of the members 6 permit a relative adjustment of said members with respect to each other and the member 5 to bring the inner ends of said members 6 into contact with each other without thereby obstructing the said recesses 7 of the member 5 as is shown in Fig. 2.

Assuming each of the members 5 and 6 to be twelve inches in length, it will readily be seen that the latitude of adjustment of the length of the rod composed thereof will be from a minimum of twenty-four inches to a maximum of about thirty-two inches if only a two-inch overlap of the sections 6 upon the ends of the sections 5 is desired. In practice, however, the member 5 is very much longer than either section 6, the said sections 6 being always of equal length. If, for example, the members 6 are each twelve inches in length, then the member 5 will be about eighteen inches long and, as no less than three inches overlap is desirable, this fixes the latitude of adjustment in length of the rod to be from twenty-four to thirty-six inches.

Each such extensible rod is equipped with sheaves 1l and 12 mounted in the outer end portions of the members 6 thereof inwardly of the said perforations 10 thereof in order to permit access to said perforations. The draw or traverse cord 13 is trained over the sheaves 11 and 12 in the customary manner with the middle portion of said cord disposed within the rod.

Master slides or carriers 14 and 15 are detachably secured to the middle portions of said cord, one thereof being attached to the upper vand the other to the lower strand spanning the space between the sheaves 11 and 12 within` the rod.

Additional slides or carriers 16 are interposed between each master carrier and the sheave or sheaves to the rear thereof and, preferably, all of the said carriers 14, 15, and 16, travel upon the lower wall of the longitudinal slot of the rod and leave ample room within the rod for the cord 13.

Preferably the master carriers are of the type fully described and claimed in my pending application for patent, Serial No. 546,133, led June 22. 1931, wherein a loop of the draw-cord 13 is passed into engagement with a hook 17 on the outer face of the carrier for easy digital engagement and is otherwise so engaged with said carrier as to permit the latter to be slid along the cord when said loop is disengaged from the said hook. This type of carrier is particularly advantageously comprised in the equipment of the rod of the present invention though other types of master carriers may be used if desired.

A clamp 18 comprising two fiat plates, one of which is disposed within the rod to engage the inner faces of the flanges of the section 5 and the other of which is disposed externally of the rod for engagement with the outer faces of the anges thereof, and which are joined by means of the set-screw 19 in a well-known manner, is normally secured to t-he section 5 to cover the said recesses 7. This clamp is thus normally disposed midway between the ends of the section 5 and, consequently, also midway between the ends of the rod after nal adjustment of the latter to the desired length.

The said clamp normally constitutes a cover for the recesses 7 and a stop for the master carriers, the latter being initially disposed in Contact with said clamp before the draw-cord loops are engaged with the hooks 17 of said carriers and said loops are then engaged with said hooks 17 to properly position the carriers with respect to the said cord 13.

The slides or carriers 16 are not engaged with the draw-cord 13. These slides or carriers are preferably of the type clearly illustated and described in my aforesaid pending application and, as shown in the drawings of the present application, each thereof comprises a member disposed externally of the rod, a truncated cone-shaped member 2O disposed within the rod, and an intermediate cylindrical element 21 which travel: within the slot of the rod, the said member 2O being of larger diameter than the width of the slot in the rod and of somewhat smaller -diameter than is necessary to permi-t passage thereof through the recesses 7 of the member 5.

While this type of carrier 16 is preferred, any other of the conventional types thereof commonly used may be substituted therefor, it being essential, of course that the recesses 7 and the equivalent of the said element 20 shall be of such corresponding shapes and dimensions as to permit passage of the said element 20 through said recesses 7.

In practice, the sections 5 and 6, equipped with the sheaves, draw-cord, and the carriers, are assembled at the factory, the number of 'carriers 16 employed being usually in excess of the maximum number that may be required to meet the demands of need of the dealer and consumer, even though the rod shall be extended to its maximum length. This factory assembly contemplates securing the clamp 18 to cover the recesses 7 and passing loops of the cord 13 over the hooks 17 of the master carriers 14 and 15 for the sole purpose of preventing accidental withdrawal of the said draw-cord 13 from the rod.

This assembled structure is then disposed in a carton to constitute what is known to the trade as a unit package whereon there is displayed the limits of adjustment of the rod as to length as, for example, eighteen to twenty-eight inches or twenty-eight to forty-eight inches, and forty-eight to eighty-six inches, respectively, as this variety of sizes will meet practically every need of the dealer and consumer.

The dealer is thus enabled to maintain a stock on hand of fully assembled, extensible traversecord curtain rods, all disposed in cartons and thus well protectedagainst deterioration. From this stock, he may select the size best suited to the length of curtain pole to be mountedon a window-casing.

Having selected the desired size, the next step consists in adjusting the same to the exact length required and this is accomplished by first detaching the cord 13 from the hooks 1'7 of the master carriers, then Vadjusting the members 6 and 5 relatively to each other. This step involves the exercise of care to so effect adjustment that the inner ends of the sections 6 are disposed equidistantly from the middle point of the member 5. This is, of course,easily accomplished.

The clamp 18 isthen released and is moved to one side, without dismounting the same from the rod, to give access to the perforation 9.

The adjusted rod is then disposed in the groove 2 of the pole 1 so that the perforation 9 is disposed midway between the ends of the said pole and a fastening screw is then passed through said perforation and the perforations 10 of the members 6 to secure the rod to the pole and also to prevent relative movement of the members 5 and 6.

The curtains or draperies to be suspended from the slides or carriers 14, 15, and 16 are equipped at regular intervals along their top edges with devices for engaging said slides or carriers, the said spacing being determined largely by the nature of the fabric of the curtains or draperies. Thus, in most instances, one or more of the carriers 16 must be removed from each end portion of the rod in order to leave the proper number thereof to be attached to each of a pair of said curtains or draperies.

To effect removal or insertion of the slides 16, the clampj18 and both master carriers are first disposed at one side of the recesses 7. Then carriers 16 are removed from or added to the other side of. the rod via the recesses 7 until the desired number of said carriers is disposed along said side or end portion of the rod.

The carriers 14 and 15 and clamp 18 are then moved past the recesses 7 to the other end portion and the number of carriers 16 disposed on the first-mentioned end portion is then adjusted. The carriers 14 and 15 and clamp 18 are then moved so that, first, the said clamp 18 covers the recesses 7 and is there secured and, second, the carriers 14 and 15 are then moved into contact with opposite sides of the clamp 18.

The draw-cord loops are then drawn into engagement with the hooks 17 while the depending end portions of said cord are pulled and held fairly taut to take up all slack therein within the rod.

The whole assembly is now ready for attachment of the curtains or draperies to the carriers 14, 15, and 16 and for operation.

Thus, by means of normal purchases, the dealerwill, in due course and without additional expense to him, have on hand a supply of surplus carriers 16 taken from rods carrying a greater number thereof than are usually required. Said carriers 16 are obviously very cheap and by reason of the saving in labor by the dealer effected by purchases of the assembledstructures, which greatly outweighs the very small cost of surplus carriers 16, the said dealer can well afford to pay for such surplus slides.

Heretofore, the rods mounted in the groove 2 of the pole 1 have been single-piece as distinguished from extensible rods. In the single piece type, any change in the number of carriers 16, from the number thereof first mounted on the rod, required the removal of one or both sheaves 11 and 12 to enable the number of carriers 16 to be adjusted. If only one sheave is removed from a single piece rod, then the master carriers were also required to be removed and replaced. These manipulations frequently cause the operator to disengage the cord from the sheaves and require re-threading thereof and sometimes, also, the mastercarriers would be found to be improperly mounted after re-assembly of the rod and thus a repetition of the operations became necessary.

All of these disadvantages, involving labor costs and error, are overcome by the present invention.

This invention, insofar as it concerns the recesses '7 and clamp 18, may, of course, be embodied in the single piece rod with some degree of advantage but would require that said recesses 7 be cut after the proper length of single piece rod has been cut from a long length. In the case of single piece rods, it is also necessary for the dealer to provide the perforations 22 (shown in Figs. 3 and 4) in one of the flanges at one end of the rod, whereas in the assembled structure of the present invention, one or both of the sections 6 includes said perforations for the passage of the depending end portions of the draw-cord 13. Other structural details must be supplied by the dealer in fitting single piece rods to poles. To this end the dealer requires special tools which are usually supplied by the manufacturer of the rods at cost to the latter or the dealer or to both. The elimination of such special tools is obviously very desirable for all reasons appertaining to special single purpose or single function equipment.

While the structure of the present invention is particularly intended and adapted for mounting on curtain poles, it may obviously be used independently of the latter by disposing the extremities of the members 6 in brackets of the type ordinarily employed for supporting metal rods, as, for example the type illustrated in the aforesaid pending application.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a conventional hollow curtain rod provided with a continuous longitudinal slot and equipped in its end portions with sheaves and between said sheaves with slides engaged with and riding upon the walls of said slot, there being recesses in the walls of said slot at a point substantially midway between said sheaves laterally enlarging said slot, and a removable closure member for said recesses.

2. In a conventional hollow curtain rod provided with a continuous longitudinal slot and equipped in its end portions with sheaves and between said sheaves with slides engaged with and riding upon the walls of said slot, there being recesses in the walls of said slot at a point substantially midway between said sheaves, a removable closure member for the said recesses, and means for securing said closure member against movement relatively to the rod to constitute the same a stop to limit the travel of the slides in one direction.

3. In a conventional hollow C-shaped traverse curtain rod having a continuous longitudinal slot and equipped with draw-cord mechanism and drapery carrying slides, said slot being laterally enlarged substantially midway between the ends of the rod, and a closure member for the said enlarged portion of the said slot.

4. In a conventional hollow C-shaped traverse curtain rod equipped with draw-cord mechanism and drapery carrying slides, and having a continuous longitudinal slot provided with a laterally enlarged portion substantially midway between the ends of the rod, a closure member for the said enlarged portion of the said slot, and means for securing said closure member against movement relatively to the said rod.

5. In a conventional hollow C-shaped traverse curtain rod equipped with draw-cord mechanism and drapery carrying slides, and having a continuous longitudinal slot provided with a laterally enlarged portion substantially midway between the ends of the rod, and a closure member for the said enlarged portion of the said slot, equipped with clamping means for retaining the same against movement on said rod, said member being adapted to be moved longitudinally of the rod upon loosening the said clamping means.

6. A conventional hollow, longitudinally slotted traverse cord equipped curtain rod adapted for mounting upon a curtain pole, said rod com- Cil prising a middle section and end sections telescopically engaged with each other for effecting adjustment in length of the rod to accord with the length of the curtain pole, each of said sections being provided with means for securing the same to the pole and thereby holding the said sections against relative movement, said equipment including drapery carrying slides, and said rod having a continuous longitudinal slot which is laterally enlarged at a point midway between the ends of said rod whereby said slides may be removed and replaced Without 'removing any other part of the said equipment from the rod and Without disturbing the position on the curtain pole of said rod.

7. A conventional hollow, longitudinally, slotted traverse cord equipped curtain rod adapted for mounting upon a curtain pole, said rod comprising a middle section and end sections telescopically engaged with each other for effecting adjustment in length of the rod to accord with the length of the curtain pole, each of said sections being provided with means for securing the same to the pole and thereby holding the said sections against relative movement, said equipment including drapery carrying slides, and

said rod having a continuous longitudinal slot which is laterally enlarged at a point midway between the ends of said rod whereby slides may be removed and replaced without removing any other part of the said equipment from the rod and without disturbing its position on the curtain pole, and a cover element for said enlarged portion of the slot slidable longitudinally of the rod.

8. In a curtain pole provided with a longitudinal groove to receive a curtain rod, a conventional hollow longitudinally slotted curtain rod equipped with internal sheaves adjacent its ends and with drapery supporting members between said sheaves for movement longitudinally of the rod, said rod comprising a middle section and two end sections telescopically engaged with said middle section, the latter provided between its ends with an egress for said members, each of said sections having a perforation disposed opposite the slot therein for passage of devices securing the same to the pole, the slots of said end sections being flared at the opposed inner ends of said sections.

9. A curtain rod of the type speciiled comprising a middle section, and end sectionstelescopically engaged with said middle section, each of said sections having a continuous longitudinal slot therein and said end sections being equipped internally with sheaves adjacent their outer ends, there being drapery carriers slidable in the slots of said several sections, the slot of said middle section being enlarged at the' middle of said sectionsto provide an egress for said slides, and the slots of the-.end sections being enlarged at the inner opposed ends of the latter.

10. A curtain rod of the type specied comprising a middle section and end sections telescopically engaged with said middle section, each of said sections having a continuous longitudinal slot therein and said end sections being equipped internally with sheaves adjacent their outer ends, there being drapery carriers slidable in the slots of said several sections, the slot of said middle section being enlarged at the middle of said section to provide an egress for said slides, and the slots of the end sections being enlarged at the inner opposed ends of the latter, and a closure member for the enlarged portion of the slot of the middle section affording a stop to limit the travel of said slides.

11. A curtain rod of the type specified comprising a middle section and end sections telescopically engaged with said middle section, each of said sections having a continuous longitudinal slot therein and said end sections being esquipped internally with sheaves adjacent their outer ends, there being drapery carriers slidable in the slots of said several sections, the slot of said middle section being enlarged at the middle of said section to provide an egress for said slides, and the slots of the end sections being enlarged at the inner opposed ends of the latter, and a closure member for the enlarged portion of the slot of the middle section receivable within the enlarged end portions of the slots of the end sections when the latter are disposed in meeting relation to e'ach other.

12. A curtain rod of the type specified comprising a middle section and end sections telescopically engaged with said middle section, each of said sections having a continuous longitudinal slot therein and said end sections being equipped internally with sheaves adjacent their outer ends,v

there being drapery carriers slidable in the slots of said several sections, the slot of said middle section being enlarged at the middle of said section to provide an egress for said slides, and the slots of the end sections being enlarged at the inner opposed ends of the latter, and a closure member for the enlarged portion of the slot of the middle section affording a stop to limit the travel of said slides, said closure member being slidable longitudinally of the several sections of the rod, and means on said closure member for securing the same against such movement.

13. A conventional hollow longitudinally slotted curtain rod equipped with drapery carriers slidable in and guided by the walls of said slot, the latter being laterally enlarged at a point substantially midway between the ends of the rod to afford a means for inserting and removing said carriers, and a closure member for the said enlarged portion of the said slot.

' CHARLES W. KIRSCH. 

